


War Paint

by jenfurlee (orphan_account)



Series: Westfall Family Fics [12]
Category: Wentworth (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10464000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/jenfurlee
Summary: Bridget finally gets to see Franky without her war paint.





	

The first thing that struck Bridget was the woman’s eyes. Beautiful, striking jade hiding behind a thick layer of charcoal shadow. She knew instantly the dark hue coating her eyelids was her war paint. Much like ancient tribes of the past would mask their faces to warn off their enemies and demonstrate their strength, Franky Doyle would paint hers each morning. She’d been intrigued from the very beginning, of the woman in hiding underneath those thick protective layers; both physical and metaphorical. Her overbearing persona and revealing clothes screamed at her loudly each day, wanting desperately to help coax her out of her shell, like the frightened wild animal she was.  
  
Even after Franky had completed a full year of release and they were now living together permanently, Bridget had still never seen the woman without her standard dark lids. While the tone had lightened a bit since her days inside, they still remained hidden behind the shadow. Franky always awoke early to start the day. By the time Bridget would finish applying her makeup in her knickers, Franky was already fully dressed and in the kitchen with the stovetop heating up. Even in the late hours of the evening, the remnants of shadow and liner remained on her lids while they lay in their bed. Bridget never pressed, but seeing as Franky had fought hard to heal her demons, it only seemed obvious that she let Bridget see her underneath the layer of protection. 

“Spunky?” Franky called from down the hall. Bridget lay in the deep tub with the sudsy water up to her collarbones. She had a dry hand held out to hold her full wine glass. After a hellacious day at work, the only solution was to throw her hair up on top of her head, and treat herself to a soak in the oversized lion’s foot tub.  
  
“I’m in here,” she called over her shoulder before taking a small sip of the crisp chardonnay. In a matter of seconds Franky’s head was peeking through the open doorway.  
  
“Rough day?”She asked leaning her spine back to match along the door jam. She shrugged her blazer off and tossed it into the bedroom lazily. Her toned and tattooed arms appeared into Bridget’s sight causing her to smile softly.  
  
“I wore those heels to work today and ended up back and forth from my office to the slot all day,” she mumbled embarrassed as she poked her red-polished toes out from the water.  
  
“The blue ones? I told you that you’d regret wearing a new bloody pair of heels on a workday,” Franky smiled brightly. She was always a pain in the arse when she was right about something. It made playing trivial pursuit at family gatherings unbearable.  
  
“I know, I know. Just rub it in and get it over with,” the blonde muttered with a wrinkled nose. She had meant to look annoyed, but failed miserably as the brunette couldn’t contain her soft laughter.  
  
“Care for company?” Franky asked with her fingertips gripping the bottom of her blouse waiting for permission. Bridget nodded emphatically which caused Franky to pull out of her work clothes as quickly as possible. She left them in a heap against the tile as she tied up her long locks. Her beauty never ceased to amaze Bridget. She was somehow the perfect blend of soft and hard. The soft curves of her hips and breasts were accentuated by firm muscle of her stomach and biceps. She was both the lamb and the wolf at the same time. Bridget would never be able to wrap her head around it.  
  
Slowly Franky dipped her toes in before sinking down on the other side of the oversized tub facing her lover. She lathered her palms with a generous amount of soap before pulling one of Bridget’s feet from the suds and began massaging the soles of her feet firmly.  
  
“Mmm, that feels divine,” she cooed leaning her head back relaxing into the touch. They continued like that in silence for several minutes until Bridget’s screaming feet could no longer even whisper. Once Franky had finished on both feet, she turned her back towards the blonde relishing in the way she could feel the press of Bridget’s ample breasts against her back. Bridget silently wrapped her arms around the brunette’s slender waist, delivering a line of gentle kisses along Franky’s neck and shoulders.  
  
Then without warning, Franky’s anchored foot slipped against the slick edge of the tub, and she slid fully submerged in the sudsy water. Franky popped back up appearing like a drowned cat with her wet hair falling from its secured ponytail on the top of her head. Bridget couldn’t contain the laugh that escaped her throat.  
  
Franky tried to dart immediately with her hands gripped on the edge of the tub.  
  
“Wait! Franky,” Bridget quickly wrapped herself around her slender lover effectively keeping her in the tub. “It’s okay,” she soothed. Unconvinced, Franky still hadn’t relaxed from her defensive position. “Stay,” the blonde begged.  
  
“But-” Franky began to explain, her hands trying to hide her dark makeup that was now cascading down her cheeks. Swiftly Bridget wrapped her legs in Franky’s lap to stop her from fleeing. Her lips placed soft kisses over the brunettes hands as she tried to coax them away. “No one has ever seen me without it,” Franky whispered her emerald eyes visible through the slits in her fingers. Bridget nodded reassuringly, running soft touches over the woman’s shoulders and arms. Some time later, the brunette’s hands slowly fell down into the warm water as she released the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.  
  
Bridget retrieved a soft washcloth and began running it over her love’s face in long, soothing swipes. Franky’s eyes stayed shut tight and her hands held Bridget’s hips tightly for support. Their breaths were matched in deep pulls of air as the blonde continued to work.  
  
“There,” Bridget whispered once there wasn’t a stitch of makeup left. She leaned back to take her in. She immediately noticed the light dusting of freckles over Franky’s nose. They made her appear younger, almost childlike. The hard edges of the woman had all but disappeared. Then the bright jade eyes flashed open, and the blonde’s breath was gone. “Wow,” she managed to whisper.  
  
“That bad, huh?” Franky teased with a small smile on her face.  
  
“Franky,” she breathed bringing her hand up to cup the woman’s flushed cheek. “You’re beautiful.” She leaned forward to press a soft kiss against her love’s lips. Afterwards, Bridget pulled Franky back into her arms running her hands over the length of her spine.  
  
“I started wearing it to cover-up the bruises,” she revealed quietly against the blonde’s bare chest. “I swiped it from the store once after she’d laid into me real good for burning dinner. Then it just sort of became a part of me. Putting it on in the morning made me feel like I was putting on a mask to hide behind. Wearing it meant that I could be the brave and fearless girl that I wasn’t at home with her. I liked how it made me feel, so I kept doing it.” The brunette so rarely talked about her previous life with her mother. She had worked through many of her past daemons in therapy, and it seemed she had finally come to peace with the hand she was dealt. Franky finally realized just because her mother had self sabotaged with drugs and alcohol didn’t mean that she herself was destined to follow the same destructive path. She was definitely not anyone’s daughter. She was the phoenix rising from the ashes like it was etched on her skin. Bridget let her fingertips trace over the intricate feathers of the tattoo.  
  
“It’s your war paint, your protection” the psychologist interpreted the information. Franky loved that she could synthesize her thoughts so perfectly, even when she struggled to do so herself.  
  
“But it clearly didn’t work perfectly,” Franky looked up through her thick lashes with a coy smile on her lips. Bridget cocked an eyebrow in question. “Yeah, it was going all well and good until this shrink in prison saw right through me.”  
  
“Is that how it happened?” She giggled softly.  
  
“Called me on my bullshit, and made me really start owning up to myself.” Bridget remembered forcing the young woman to deal with her monsters as they sat face to face in those office chairs for months. She was certain each time the brunette revealed more about herself, the more that Bridget fell hopelessly in love with her.  
  
“She sounds quite lovely,” she kissed the crook of Franky’s neck.  
  
“Pain in the ass, but phenomenal in the sack. And her car is hot too,” Franky teased with a smirk on her face. Bridget delivered a playful nip to the sensitive skin in return. The brunette turned to face the culprit her naked eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Thank you for saving me, Gidge,” she whispered. Bridget cupped her blushing cheeks between both hands, their foreheads pressed together.  
  
“You saved yourself, I merely threw you the lifeline.” Franky leaned forward, closing the distance between the women with a deep kiss. 

 

The next morning as she readied herself for work, Bridget was running late after she hit the snooze button a few too many times. She rushed to shower, toss her hair up into a ponytail, and dress in herself in her favorite blue blazer. She padded towards the kitchen while putting her diamond stud earrings in place.  
  
“You should have stopped me at two snoozes,” she scolded the woman at the stove as she prepared breakfast.  
  
“You looked so cute, I just couldn’t do it,” she whined turning around to face her love. Bridget’s feet stopped in their tracks just shy of the kitchen island, which she had to grab onto to steady herself. Franky’s eyes contained nothing more than a quick sweep of liner and mascara, and nothing else. The soft olive-tone of her eyelids caused her eyes to pierce right into Bridget’s heart. “What’s wrong?” She asked taking a step forward.  
  
“Your eyes,” she stumbled over her words. Franky pulled her into her arms.  
  
“I was thinking about it this morning, and I decided that maybe it’s time to let the rest of world see the real Franky Doyle.” The blonde could feel her lips curl into a smile to match her girlfriend’s.  
  
“Sounds like a major breakthrough.”  
  
“Nothing a nice soak in the bath with my spunky girl to help, eh?” With that Franky patted Bridget’s shapely hips twice before turning back towards the stove. “Now perhaps our next bath should focus on you and those damn heels,” she teased with a wink. Bridget wrinkled her nose before tickling Franky’s side to retaliate. Instantly the brunette erupted with spontaneous laughter, her eyes crinkling at the edges. It was there, for the first time, that Bridget saw Franky put down her sword and shield, and just be. And god, was she beautiful.


End file.
